Remember me?
by J1S4K
Summary: After a severe injury, Naruto loses his memory. No longer is he Uzumaki Naruto, the bright boy whose greatest dream was to become Hokage; now he is simply Naruto, a shell of his former self. However, one of his former friends is determined to bring back the Naruto that she once knew and loved. NaruHina, rated T for intense violence and some adult themes. Multi-chapter fic.
1. The Injury

_Hey, guys. Now, I know that I pledged against romance stories countless times, I know how I said I despised them. But, somehow, I find myself writing this NaruHina fic. A drama/romance fic, at that! Jeez, J1, you're turning soft…_

_Alright, although this is a romance fic, it is absolutely not a lemon. No way. I may rate it M, just for intense violence and some adult themes, but no lemons. Subtle romance only. I plan on it being a multi-chapter fic._

_I know I made the first chapter incredibly short, but I promise that after chapter 2, they'll be at least 1.5K or more._

_Alright, dudes. That's the authors note. Enjoy the prologue, and hang loose._

The hospital lights flickered in and out of existence on the ceiling, casting dancing silhouettes on the dull walls. They cut out suddenly. Haruno Sakura made a mental note to file a complaint about them later.

Currently, however, she watched her peacefully sleeping patient with sad eyes, hands folded on her lap. For the second time in just as many minutes, her gaze flicked up to the man sitting across from her. "Tell me again how this happened to him," She demanded in a low voice, eyes flickering pointedly down to the boy on the bed.

The man was silent for a while, before letting out a weary sigh and running a hand through his hair. "A-ranked mission," He explained, obviously not enthusiastic. "He was hit with an abnormal style of Taijutsu. Fell and hit his head. Got back up. Fell and hit his head again, this time harder. Got back up again. Fell and…"

"Fell and cracked his head open," Sakura finished for him; just to say it made her weak to her stomach. The man was faring no better, judging by the way he nearly retched from behind his mask. He pulled himself together again, however, and admitted, "Our opponents were mere bandits. My opponent was kind enough to pause his onslaught when he was injured. Even helped knock his companion unconscious. I let him go."

They were silent for a while after that, just watching the boy's slow breaths as he slept. Just two hours ago, that boy had been screaming in pain, writhing in agony in a puddle of his own blood. Just two hours ago, Sakura had helplessly watched as the boy was shipped to the emergency room of the hospital. Just two hours ago, Uzumaki Naruto had almost died.

"What is the damage?" The man initiated conversation once again, this time with his own demand. "I merely assumed for myself, judging by the rate of bleeding. I'm not a certified medical shinobi."

Tears rose to Sakura's eyes, blurring her vision. Despite her wishes, the water slowly rolled down her face. "We don't know," She managed. "It could be anything between minor injury, to…" She didn't manage to finish, instead breaking into hysterical sobs. The man gazed at her, his visible eye displaying pity. He returned his gaze back down to his former student. Eventually, Sakura's sobs calmed down to whimpers.

"Kakashi-sensei?" She whispered, her voice barely audible. "Hn?" Kakashi grunted his acknowledgment.

"Do you think he'll live?"

Kakashi sighed, and wet his throat anxiously, trying to find a suitable answer for the wide-eyed girl. "Naruto Uzumaki is a fighter," He finally said, attempting to lighten the atmosphere. "I have no doubts he's going to recover."

For some reason, however, Kakashi needed to say that to himself plenty more times before he finally began to believe it.


	2. Temporal Lobes

_Alright, guys. I know you're probably facepalming right now: another short chapter? Well, as I said in the last Author's Note, the next chapters are going to be longer. _

_Well, dudes, that's the Author's Note. Enjoy the second chapter, and hang loose._

Sakura and Kakashi were the only ones allowed to see Naruto while he was unconscious. Sakura, because she was his nurse, and Kakashi, because he wouldn't have it any other way. For three days, they both entered his room at exactly 7:00 in the morning. They stayed there for hours, just watching the boy's chest go up and down, with the occasional forced 'he's going to be alright'.

On the third day, Naruto woke.

It was 2:00 in the afternoon when he first stirred; Kakashi had just been preparing to leave. Sakura had been sitting by Naruto's bed as usual, stroking his hand, when the boy had slowly opened his eyes, and turned his head weakly.

Sakura had nearly screamed in delight, prompting a pained frown from Naruto, and a surprised squeal from Kakashi, which he immediately disguised as a cough, much to his chagrin and Sakura's amusement. Naruto didn't react.

However, something was wrong. No, Naruto didn't smile in relief as he usually did after recovering from a major injury. No, that same pained frown remained on his brow, to Sakura's surprise. "Naruto? Are you alright?" She stroked his hand again. He didn't acknowledge her. "Are you alright?" She repeated, once again not receiving a reply.

Kakashi cut through the awkward silence like a hot knife through butter; he was used to situations like this. "Be calm, Sakura," He smoothly reassured, placing a gloved hand on the pink haired girl's shoulder, "He's just woken up. Let him recover."

Sakura nodded slightly, letting go of Naruto's hand. Her heart rate increased, however, when he didn't let her go. Her eyes widened as his parched lips spread. "…Who?" Was all the boy managed; his voice was as dry as his lips. Sakura blinked, while Kakashi slowly slipped back into his chair, his attention honed in on the blond. "Naruto-kun," She began, her voice as sweet as honey, "Don't you remember me?"

Naruto didn't answer, instead choosing to wiggle into a more comfortable position under his sheets. He sniffled, suddenly shivering, and Sakura realized that he must be cold. She didn't even have to ask; Kakashi nodded solemnly. "I'll go get him another blanket." After a while, he added, "And his sleeping cap."

He strolled out of the double doors. Sakura simply sat there for a while, keeping a careful eye on Naruto, who currently had his eyes half closed, half opened.

"You do remember me, right?" Sakura whispered, as if she feared she would be scolded if someone overheard her. Naruto stared at her, his face blank. "Who?" He repeated his early question, before sighing as if the simple word had cost him a huge amount of energy.

"Remember? Team 7, right? Me, you, and Sasuke!" Sakura began to panic, her legs kicking against the bed when Naruto didn't react.

…_Sakura?_

The pink haired girl froze as the communication device attached to her hip transmitted the head nurse's voice. She remained silent, gazing fearfully at Naruto, who had closed his eyes once more.

_Sakura? I know you're there. Come to the control room._

A sigh escaped the girl's lips as she realized she couldn't maneuver herself out of this situation. Patting the blond on the head, she grudgingly stood and left the room, determined eyes clashing against her weak body posture.

Upon reaching the control room, she was greeted by the head nurse's anxious look. "How is he?" She asked, twisting her fingers. Sakura sighed once again, and sat in the brown chair that the nurse pulled out for her.

"He's gained consciousness," She began, "But…" The nurse's brow furrowed and waved her hand, prompting Sakura to continue. Sakura swallowed. "There might be some damage to his temporal lobes."

"But the temporal lobes are in control of memory, language learning, object recognition and mood stability; it's incredibly hard to injure them." The nurse crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back, searching her memory for a case in which a patient had harmed their temporal lobes. Finding none, she added, "It's nearly impossible, in fact."

Sakura wearily adjusted her hitai-ate, and choose not to reply. After a long while, the nurse finally nodded dismissively. "Go back to him," She instructed sternly. Sakura bowed her head slightly, and returned to Naruto's room.

The blond boy was fast asleep. Sometime while she was gone, Kakashi had slipped in, and had placed the sleeping cap upon Naruto's head. In a state of awe, Kakashi mumbled, "He didn't remember me." He turned his apprehensive gaze to Sakura. "He didn't remember me," He repeated, this time louder. Sakura nodded sadly.

"Me neither."

While he dreamed, the blond boy repeated Sakura's earlier words over and over: _Team 7, Team 7, Team 7…_

_Alright, so you're probably wondering right now, where is Hinata? She's one of the main characters of the story, yet she's not even been referenced yet! The next chapter, she'll make her first appearance._

_Please review, guys and gals; this is my first drama story. I was never very good at capturing emotions, in my opinion. Please tell me how I did! If you have any criticism, please give it! Thanks for reading, guys. I can't promise when the next chapter will be here; maybe Thursday._


	3. Hinata's visit

_Holy bananas! It's obvious that this is a favorite among my readers; 230 views overnight! Thanks a lot to the people who favorited, reviewed, and added it to their alerts. You guys and gals are awesome._

_Well, dudes, that's the authors note. Enjoy the third chapter, and hang loose._

Rain.

It rushed down from the foreboding clouds above, in torrents, clusters, spattering against the dirt and hard pave like blue blood. The wind that accompanied it played a pleasant tune, however, as if it didn't know that its music was clashing with the brutal storm.

Sakura wondered if the storm was Kami's way of mourning Naruto's injury. Though the rain soaked through her clothes and her hair, she didn't shiver; instead she maintained her steady pace, observing the civilians who were so desperately trying to receive cover from the tempest.

The girl honestly didn't mind the rain that much. A small part of her was annoyed that the elements just had to launch their barrage on the Leaf village when it was time for her to take her break, however she ignored it. In all honesty, she was more upset about the break than the rain.

It had been a week after the boy's first awakening, and Sakura had barely left his side since then. The hospital had all but thrown her out, insisting that she was spending too much time with the blond boy; when she had protested, the owners of the medical institution had used their trump card: the boy needed time and space to himself to ensure a proper recovery.

How dare they! The more she thought about it, the hotter the rage in her stomach got. She was Naruto's nurse, for all things! She needed to be with him, especially during this time. Even if…

Even if he technically didn't remember her.

Salty tears mixed with the rain that was flowing down her face, and she was crying before she could stop herself. How could this happen? The temporal lobes were among the hardest parts of the brain to damage! Guilt slowly took over the rage's place. If only she had been there…she could've stopped it sooner…

"…S-Sakura-san?"

The pink haired girl started as a small hand gently touched her shoulder, but soon relaxed when she saw who it was.

"Hello, Hinata-san." Sakura attempted to mask her unease. She failed.

Hinata was blushing profoundly, the light blue of the rain clashing against the bright red of her face. Her gaze averted, she asked, "How is he?"

Sakura remained quiet, instead gesturing to a shaded portion below a tree that offered minor protection from the rain. After sitting, she asked a question of her own, "I assume you've heard the news?"

"Y-yes…He has a memory issue?"

Sakura nodded gravely, fighting the tears that threatened to boil over. "I wouldn't call it permanent," She reassured, "He had some minor reactions to quite a few phrases from his past." Hinata took the information quite well, sitting and twiddling with her fingers quietly. Eventually, her soft gaze rose back to Sakura. "Can…can I visit him, maybe?"

Blinking absently, Sakura sighed. She had known the question would come eventually. Fidgeting uncomfortably under Hinata's hopeful stare, she began, "Well, we don't usually allow patients to receive visitors when they're just recovering…"

Hinata's heart sank, and she averted her gaze once more.

"But, I think I can get you in there. As long as you promise to stay quiet."

Perking up once more, the girl nodded rapidly. Staying quiet was her specialty.

The two girls headed back to the hospital in silence; the rain was slowly but surely subsiding, leaving its wet remnants with the earth. Still, the clouds refused to show the sun again, casting a dark shadow over the village.

It always amazed Hinata how small the hospital was, but how many patients it held. Merely five stories tall, it held hundreds of shinobi, injured and visiting both.

Once they reached the hallway that Naruto's room was in, Sakura stopped abruptly. "Now, Hinata," She warned, wagging a finger, "I can't promise what you're going to see. As I said, he's not fully recovered yet. He might not even be awake." Hinata nodded once more. It didn't matter what state he was in; she just needed to see her crush.

He was awake, in fact. Sitting up for one of the first times, his blond hair in a mess. Noticing the bucket to his side that was full of vomit, Sakura grimaced as she realized had he probably regurgitated his breakfast and lunch. Holding the bucket with a look of contempt on her face, she said to Hinata, "I'll be back. Remember, don't make too much noise." With that, she left.

Hinata, however, didn't mind in the slightest. Her attention was completely and utterly honed on Naruto, as his was to her; the boy loved re-meeting people. Blushing profoundly, the girl took a hesitant step forward, and, her face extremely red, patted Naruto's hand awkwardly.

Much to Hinata's amazement, Naruto smiled weakly. "You're pretty," He croaked to Hinata, causing a gasp to escape her lips. Having gotten over her sudden shock, Hinata asked, "N-Naruto-kun…Do you...remember me?"

And there it was again. The same blank look that the boy wore when anybody asked him that question. Tears rose to Hinata's eyes. "Do you?"

No answer from Naruto. He sat back in his bed and sighed. After a while, he answered, "…No."

Bursting into sobs, Hinata ran from the room, with Naruto's bewildered look drilling into her back.

She didn't know how many turns she took, but she eventually ended up in the women's bathroom. Rushing into a stall, she sat on the toilet seat and let the tears fall freely. How could he not remember her? She didn't know the memory problem was that bad!

Thirty minutes passed, and the girl was all cried out. Wiping away the dry tears from her face, she placed a hand on her stomach and took a deep breath in front of the mirror; she looked horrible. Eyes were red and puffy, lips were dry, mouth in a frown.

After washing her face, she finally worked up enough confidence to return to Naruto's room. The boy eyed her with the same bewildered look he had when she left. Sitting in the chair next to his bed, Hinata attempted a warm smile. "Hello, Naruto-kun," She began, "M-my name is Hinata-san."

Naruto blinked. "Hinata-saaan?" He drawled, his eyes slanted. Hinata nodded, her smile growing warmer. "Y-yes. And you are Naruto-kun." Naruto's eyes widened, and he twitched violently. Hinata stumbled backwards in alarm, as the boy's eyes rolled up and down, up and down. Finally, he calmed. "Uzumaki Naruto," He muttered under his breath.

Hinata felt like dancing. "Yes! Yes, Naruto-kun!" Naruto recoiled at Hinata's sudden outburst, but he smiled too. "Yes!" He exclaimed.

He wiggled down into his bed, however. "Uzumaki Naruto is tired now," he announced, his eyes already closing. Hinata glanced out the window; it was midday. Yes, he should take a nap now.

_Much _to her surprise, Hinata did something she had never done before: she flung her arms around Naruto and gave him a quick embrace. Her face morphing bright red instantaneously, she quickly hurried backwards, hurt by Naruto's disgusted look. He soon smiled, though. "Th…Thank you, Hinata-san," He managed, before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

Hinata smiled faintly, and sat beside the boy's bed, staring out the window.

Outside, the dark clouds faded away, revealing a brighter-then-ever sun.

_Alright, guys; so how was that chapter? This chapter was a little bit lighter then the last two. It was my first attempt at 'fluff', or something like that; how do you think I did? Please make sure to leave a review! Thanks for reading, guys and gals!_

_I think the next chapter may be up on Thursday._


	4. Shi's Ending

Hinata had always known and taken pride in the fact that she was a kind person. Many people praised her on that fact, stating that if the people of the five countries were half as nice and polite as her, there would be no wars. That would be rather pleasant, Hinata considered.

It was one spring morning, in Konoha, however, that Hinata fully showed her kindness.

It was a rather quiet morning in Konoha. Matter of fact, _relatively _quiet would be a better word. Of course, seeing as this was Konoha, there was still a fair amount of ruckus, consisting of kids playing, mothers scolding, and madman screaming that the sky was falling. But compared to most Tuesday morning in the Leaf, in the spring, of all seasons, it was relatively quiet.

In this _relatively _quiet village, one Hyuga Hinata walked a _relatively _non-crowded road, a shadow of a smile on her face as she singled out the sweet sound of the singing birds above the rumpus that was Konoha. Breathing in the fresh, unpolluted air, Hinata sighed in delight. She loved the spring.

To her, spring was a time of new beginnings. The new flowers were blooming; trees were re-growing their fruits and leaves, even the civilians were sporting a pep in their step for the new season. Yes, spring was the season of new beginnings.

Almost abruptly, her thoughts shifted to Naruto, the boy who she was going to visit in the village's hospital. "New beginnings," She mumbled under her breath to no one in particular, head tilted in thought. Could Naruto's predicament be classified as a new beginning? Perhaps, perhaps not…

Hinata was so deep in thought, she nearly missed the entrance to the hospital. If an academy child hadn't bumped into her while he was chasing his friend, she probably would have.

Wordlessly sweeping past the double oak doors, Hinata was struck by how quiet the entire place was; besides the occasional moan of an injured shinobi, the main hall was so quiet she could hear her own sandals clacking against the tiled floor. Attributing it to the fact that it was still quite early, Hinata paid it no heed.

Passing the bored-looking receptionist with a respectful bow that wasn't returned, Hinata strolled through the maze like hospital, each step full of purpose. She started, however, when a dirty tissue was thrown at her. Diligently sidestepping, the girl swerved her head toward the source of the object. Two young, bloodshot eyes stared back at her.

"Come," The voice below the eyes rasped, making urgent gestures with its hands. Hinata stayed where she was. "Come," The voice repeated, this time more purposely. Taking a hesitant step forward into the youth's room, Hinata was shocked by how purely dark it was; the windows were bolted shut for a reason she didn't know, and thick curtains were drawn over them.

Seeing Hinata observing the window, the young boy sadly said in his thick, dry voice, "They did that so I wouldn't jump and kill myself."

Having Hinata's full, shocked attention, the boy tenderly picked up a framed photograph that sat on the nightstand next to his bed. "This is my pa and me." He showed the picture to Hinata, who could see a large smiling man, holding a wide-mouthed toddler boy with few teeth. The toddler's smile was so wide it literally almost reached his ears.

"He was a great man," The boy continued, his red puffy eyes slanted. His head perked up hopefully, and he gazed at Hinata. "Did you know him? His name was Huangdi Rakomu."

_Huangdi Rakomu, Huangdi Rakomu… _Somewhat surprised by the sudden change of events, Hinata searched her memory for a Huangdi Rakomu nonetheless. Yes…Huangdi Rakomu! He was one of the workers who had constructed the Great Naruto Bridge in the Land of Waves!

"Was he an architect?" Hinata inquired, sitting at the foot of the boy's bed. The boy nodded profoundly, his face beaming. "Yes! My pa is famous!" His smile slowly faded, and he added, "Well, was famous."

"He…he died?" It was a question Hinata already knew the answer to, and she regretted it as soon as it came out of her mouth; the boy blinked, attempting to stem the tears that threatened to boil over and flow down his face. Bravely wiping away the water, the boy took a deep breath.

"My name is Shi Rakomu. After my pa died, everything just got worse. My ma died soon after that from a heart attack, and I was placed in a home. I really didn't like it, though, so I ran away." He paused at this. "That was the worst decision of my life. They actually treated me good, it was just…I was being selfish."

Hinata nodded, understanding Shi's woes; she knew quite a few people who would have done the same thing. Perhaps even her. She waved her hand, signifying for him to continue.

"So yeah, I was on the streets, by myself. Even after the Naruto Bridge was built, the Land of Waves still had the worst streets of all the five countries. After a while of drifting through the nation, I found someone. A woman, to be precise. Her name was…Her name was Li. She seemed kind enough at first. She 'adopted' me, giving me food and drink, and a place to sleep. But then, she started abusing me. It was horrible…the things I had to go through…"

Shi shuddered, as if merely mentioning those things would be as bad as experiencing them again. Hinata remained silent.

"After a while, I simply grew tired of being abused, both physically and mentally, and I ran away once again. I was Li's favorite pawn (she had many of them, you see), and Li was quite a powerful woman throughout the nation, so I knew I had to get out of the entire Land of Waves before it was too late. I took the Great Naruto Bridge to Konohagakure." A shadow of a smile crossed Li's face and he shook his head, as he remembered just how immature his younger self was.

"I had an entire plan; I expected everything would work out perfectly: I would enter the Leaf, enroll in Konoha's famed Academy, participate in the Chuunin exams with my team, become a Chuunin, eventually Jonin, and live the rest of my life without once thinking back about my childhood. It worked out a lot differently, though. Once I reached Konohagakure, however, my false identity failed. They wouldn't let me in to the Academy without parental signing. I hadn't been taught to read or write back then, so I could barely write my own signature, much less forge someone else's."

Growing impatient, Hinata blurted, "How did you get in the hospital, then? Why do you want to kill yourself?" Shi licked his lips, and smirked. "I guess I should skip the boring details, then. To summarize, I got mixed up with some dangerous people, and did some dangerous things. Everything had gone quite well, until one raid."

Drawing a deep breath, Shi prepared to recite the climax of his epic tale. "We were infiltrating the mansion of some wealthy snob. I remember it perfectly; the team was Me, Hadou, and Ken. It started out good, with me snagging a gold statue of someone's depiction of Kami, and Ken managing to get his hands on a bag with a few thousand yen, enough to keep us all fed for at least a month. Then, disaster struck. Apparently, that old snob was rich enough to have his own private security team, a detail that we hadn't seen." Shi stopped here to blow his nose with the a tissue next to the photograph on his stand.

"The first one was patrolling the hallway. We got him before he could raise the alarm, but unfortunately one of his buddies saw us. The alarm was raised, and before we knew it, we were surrounded. I was by far the youngest of our group, so Hadou decided to act all heroic, and threw me over a bunch of them. Told me to run." Shi chuckled at this.

"If I ever see him again, I'm going to punch the bastard; that was really uncomfortable. Anyway, yeah, one of the guards managed to get a deep ass cut right down my leg as I flew over him. _That _hurt like shit. But I didn't really feel it until way after I got out of that damned mansion. That thing was like a maze. I arrived at the hospital. Turns out by then, the wound was infected; they had to amputate my right leg. I've been here ever since. That was around fourteen years ago, when I was twelve."

For the first time, Hinata peered at where Shi's right leg should have been. All that occupied the space was a stump, prompting a tiny gasp from Hinata. Remembering something Shi said, her head snapped violently back up. "You're twenty-six now?"

Shi nodded absently, grinning as if he had been expecting the question, revealing two rows of discolored teeth. "Most people ask me that. Yeah, I am."

Shaking off her momentary shock, Hinata posed her other question again: "Why do you want to die?"

All of Shi's spark ran out, and he slumped back on to the bed. "Because I have nothing else to live for," He confessed. "As soon as they think I got better, I'm headin' to prison. Apparently, the old owner of the mansion died after the raid. They blamed it on me, and since I was the only alive member of my crew, I'm getting the whole sentence. Jail for life." He averted his eyes.

Hinata frowned. "But you don't know that!" She exclaimed, surprising even herself. Shi glanced up suspiciously, his eyebrow raised. "Don't you have evidence that you didn't kill him?"

Shi shrugged, not interested. "I dunno. He died of a heart attack, and they related it to some sort of trauma I caused him. I didn't cause him any trauma, but who cares? I'm not going to jail, anyway. I'm going to Heaven. Or Hell. Whatever, I don't really care. I just wanna die."

Hinata frowned at those words, and the scraps of pity that she felt for the man previously completely disappeared. "You can't just give up," she protested, to Shi's confusion. "You have to fight it! They're not always right, you know. You _can _prove that you're innocent."

After an awkward silence, Hinata added, "Your story is so sad. But not all of it has to be! You deserve a happy ending!"

A scoff came from Shi's lips, and he turned his head. "You're still a child," he muttered. "You don't understand. There ain't no such thing as happy endings in this life. Everybody suffers."

"Not everybody!" Hinata insisted, ready to draw out her trump card. "I have a very brave friend named Uzumaki Naruto. I assume you've heard of him?"

"Of course I have," Shi said. "My former nation's bridge was named after him."

"Well, you should also know that he is in this same exact hospital as you _right now_." Hinata pointed upwards, towards Naruto's room. "He has received extreme damage to his temporal lobes, and he has lost most of his memory. But he's not crying and whining about killing himself!"

Shi simply stared at Hinata with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"No, he's recovering very well," Hinata continued. "And he's staying strong! So don't you go talking about how your life is horrible, because it can be a lot worse!"

A blink from Shi. "You know, you're right," he finally admitted, defeated. "I should fight it."

Hinata nodded proudly, glad she had made her case.

As she got up to leave, she paused as she heard Shi one more time, "And miss?"

"Yes, Shi-san?"

A small smile spread across Shi's face. "Thank you for talking with me. I needed someone to do that."

"Anytime." Hinata smiled back, before heading upstairs to check on Naruto.

* * *

The next day, when she came back to the hospital, she heard the news.

Shi had stumbled out of his bed to the hospital's kitchen, grabbed a butcher knife, and killed himself.

* * *

_Sad ending, I know. Well, after receiving some wonderful advice from a friend of mine, the next chapters are going to be better then ever._

_Thanks for reading Chapter 4, guys and gals. Remember to review, and hang loose._


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